Behind Xi’s Bluster Is a Vulnerable China

Trump’s policies have America surging, while Chinese growth could slow further still.

By

Andy Puzder

Jan. 9, 2019 7:03 pm ET

President Xi Jinping observed the 40th anniversary of China’s shift from doctrinaire communism to quasi-capitalist totalitarianism by delivering a televised speech last month in unyielding authoritarian language. Yet his forceful posturing couldn’t hide his concern. America’s main economic rival is under real pressure to give up many of the mercantilist policies it has relied on for decades to prop up growth.

Like his predecessors, Mr. Xi insists that China’s Communist Party has been “totally correct” over the past 40 years....